CHARLOTTE Church is set to try her hand at presenting when she hosts Have I Got News For You.

The Cardiff-born star will join the likes of Anne Robinson and Charles Kennedy by guest presenting the topical news quiz.

The 17-year-old, who has appeared on the show before, will be the youngest-ever presenter of the programme.

A BBC spokesperson said, "She was one of our panellists on the previous series and we were very impressed. We asked if she would like to guest present for this series."

The series is still without a permanent host after Angus Deayton left following numerous newspaper reports concerning his private life.

The new series will begin on April 24, but it has not been confirmed which show will feature Charlotte.

Team captain Paul Merton praised the teen star when she appeared on the show last April.

He said, "She was very good and she showed that young people of today are much better educated and much more aware of what's going on than their elders."

The singer is currently preparing for her concert in Las Vegas on April 19, 2003.

Other guest hosts set to present the show include William Hague and Men Behaving Badly star Martin

Clunes. The BBC still has five more presenters to confirm.

Anne Robinson's guest appearance gave the show its second highest viewing figures ever.

Charlotte has been experimenting with different avenues after her American tour.

She reached number three in the UK charts after singing on Jurgen Vries' hit The Opera Song and has starred in her debut film I'll Be There.

The film stars Charlotte as a paper delivery girl from Cardiff who discovers her dad is an aging rock star.

The film, due for a UK release in June, has already been shown to a select audience in Aspen, Colorado at the US Comedy Arts Festival where it won the Audience Award for Best Feature.

From the moment it hit our screens in September 1990 - the first ever question was on Labour MPs visiting Saddam Hussein - it was clear Have I got News for You was not going to be an ordinary quiz show.

From its promising beginnings - Paul Merton was baffled in the first episode when asked to explain the tabloid headline "Jimmy Hill put me off my dinner" - the show went from strength to strength, unafraid to poke fun at the pompous and giggle at the great and the good.

Although the format was tweaked over the years - the props round was ditched, and host Angus Deayton's suits got sharper - the basic formula of wry and sometimes shocking satire guaranteed the show a weekly audience of millions.

One Tory MP sued over a description of him, which originally appeared in a book to accompany the series - and lost.

Other memorable moments include: Roy Hattersley's last-minute decision to pull out from an episode, only to see his place taken by a tub of lard (the tub of lard actually won, with a little help from Paul Merton). Deayton handing Neil and Christine Hamilton envelopes stuffed with cash at the end of one show. Ian Hislop being labelled "the sperm of the devil" by Paula Yates.

But revelations about Angus Deayton's private life meant he became the story - and the butt of merciless jokes from Hislop and Merton, so much so that BBC executives decided he had to go.

Whether Charlotte Church will keep the two team captains under control remains to be seen. SHOW HOST: Charlotte Church. Above: Angus Deayton